a thread opens
And he bowed himself, and said, What is your servant, that you should look upon such a dead dog as I am?
The Vigil
Today’s scroll, one verse at a time — each linked to the last by the cross-references rather than by any model of you. The same vigil for everyone, and a different one tomorrow.
After whom has the king of Israel come out? after whom do you pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea.
from II Samuel 9:8
Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth before the face of the LORD: for the king of Israel has come out to seek a flea, as when one does hunt a partridge in the mountains.
from I Samuel 24:14 · a strong link
In that same hour Jesus said to the multitudes, Have you come out as against a thief with swords and poles to take me? I sat daily with you teaching in the temple, and you laid no hold on me.
from I Samuel 26:20
And Jesus answered, while he taught in the temple, How say the scribes that Christ is the Son of David?
from Matthew 26:55
And he said to them, How say they that Christ is David’s son?
from Mark 12:35
a thread opens
As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
from I Corinthians 8:4 · a strong link
For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
from Deuteronomy 6:4 · a strong link
And in the midst of the seven lampstands one like to the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and belted about the paps with a golden belt.
from I Timothy 2:5
Then I lifted up my eyes, and looked, and look, a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz:
from Revelation of John 1:13 · a strong link
a thread opens
By this we perceive the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
from I John 3:16 · a strong link
That whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
from John 3:16 · a strong link
Look to me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
from John 3:15
a thread opens
But the anointing which you have received of him remains in you, and you need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, you shall remain in him.
As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk you in him:
from I John 2:27
Be therefore imitators of God, as dear children;
from Colossians 2:6
And be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.
from Ephesians 5:1 · a strong link
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
from Ephesians 4:32
Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, to the third and to the fourth generation.
from Matthew 6:12
But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be feared.
from Exodus 34:7
a thread opens
And God has set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, varieties of tongues.
And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone;
from I Corinthians 12:28
Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, Look, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believes will not panic.
from Ephesians 2:20 · a strong link
The stone which the builders refused has become the head stone of the corner.
from Isaiah 28:16 · a strong link
Who are you, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain: and he shall bring forth its headstone with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace to it.
from Psalms 118:22 · a strong link
And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall split in its midst toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
from Zechariah 4:7
a thread opens
I know also, my God, that you try the heart, and have pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of my heart I have willingly offered all these things: and now have I seen with joy your people, who are present here, to offer willingly to you.
For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart.
from I Chronicles 29:17
But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
from Hebrews 4:12 · a strong link
And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.
from Isaiah 11:4 · a strong link
Then he said to me, This is the curse that goes forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one that steals shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that swears shall be cut off as on that side according to it.
from Malachi 4:6
a thread opens
Clean out therefore the old leaven, so that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us:
That you put off your old self, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
from I Corinthians 5:7
Therefore seeing we also are surrounded with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
from Ephesians 4:22 · a strong link
But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
from Hebrews 12:1
That is the whole thread.
Every verse the cross-references reach from II Samuel 9:8 along this chain. Today’s own vigil is laid separately.
Each verse follows the one before it along the chain a study Bible draws — a century old, public, and compiled by people arguing about Scripture rather than about how long you stay. Every card says which verse it came from and opens the chapter it belongs to. Today’s vigil is the same for every reader and is worked out from the date alone, so there is no account, no counter, and nothing stored in your browser or ours.
The text is the Lantern Modern Standard. The links are openbible.info’s cross-reference set (CC BY), the same apparatus behind the reader’s Echoes drawer. Read a whole book · Today’s table